


Francis Forever

by rmayuscula



Series: Last Words of a Shooting Star [5]
Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Angst, Hints of the Regent too i guess, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, he's everywhere i hate him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-17 19:27:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29722080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rmayuscula/pseuds/rmayuscula
Summary: Laurent remembers thinking that if Aimeric was leaving him, then he would make him leave for good, with no chance of coming back. He regrets it now. The tear-filled green eyes haunt every one of his nightmares, blurred with his uncle’s grabbing hands and Auguste’s face.
Relationships: Damen/Laurent (Captive Prince), Past Aimeric/Jord/Laurent (Captive Prince), Past Aimeric/Laurent (Captive Prince)
Series: Last Words of a Shooting Star [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2180028
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6





	Francis Forever

**Author's Note:**

> Last part of Last Words, sequel to both Losing Dogs and Townie.
> 
> God has let me live another day just to torture this fandom with more rarepair angst that no one asked for.

It’s a hot, suffocating day and the sun bothers his eyes. The house is still empty, the Fortaines moved away six months ago and clearly, they haven’t been able to sell the house yet. It’s a good thing they're back south, Laurent never liked them.

That’s what their last fight had been about, Aimeric moving back home with his family. Laurent had not wanted to stop his words, it had felt like a betrayal, like Aimeric had been abandoning him. It made him crueler than he had any right to be. Vile, really. He thought he had grown out of it, those cold-toned angry fits he used to treat their friends with. They had never been directed towards Aimeric, or at least not on purpose.

Laurent remembers thinking that if Aimeric was leaving him, then he would make him leave for good, with no chance of coming back. He regrets it now. The tear-filled green eyes haunt every one of his nightmares, blurred with his uncle’s grabbing hands and Auguste’s face.

He was not able to attend the funeral, he hadn’t even found out about Aimeric’s suicide until days after it, an old classmate had texted him, giving his condolences. Another classmate told him the truth when he asked for it, they had been friendly enough during their lycée years, he was a med student doing his residence at the local hospital. Bled to death. Aimeric’s family covered it up, told everyone that it was heart failure.

There still were copies of Aimeric’s medical records back in their- his, flat. He had taken the originals. It was a good façade. Aimeric had not done anything about it, but he knew. It had always annoyed Laurent, that thing he did, he always told him that it would end up killing him. He was wrong, at the end. It wasn’t the skipped meals.

His phone vibrates in his pocket. He knows it’s Damen texting him. He has been wondering, what does that man see in him, what good could he be when he has done this. Damen’s love reminds him, in a way, of Aimeric. The two couldn’t be any more different, though. But Damen bends at his every whim, just like Aimeric did.

That’s contrasting too, how it seems that indulging Laurent is the thing that makes Damianos the happiest and how with Aimeric, it had looked more like surrendering, like drowning.

It pulls another memory, of them in their teenage years, in this pool. It’s covered with a black screen now, to keep it from being soiled by the falling leaves, probably empty. Aimeric had sat underwater, and stayed underwater. When Laurent had pulled him out, his face had been a ghostly white. Aimeric told him he had not noticed, that he had just spaced out. Laurent didn’t think much of it, at the moment. It used to happen to him too, he remembers being at his maman's funeral and staring at a flower vase for hours, it made him believe what Aimeric told him. Laurent was always the worst liar, between the two of them.

Laurent won’t lie to himself in this moment. He knew that before moving out, Aimeric had been slipping through the cracks already, so aggressive that he had dared to utter Uncle’s name in the safe haven that their apartment was supposed to be, Laurent had wanted to cut his tongue out. And so melancholic, refusing to attend class, incredibly self-pitying; it had made him want to coddle Aimeric, as if he were a child. He had been, in a way. More boy than man, and he would stay forever that way now.

He blames Jord, too, for quitting. He wonders if anyone had let him know, he pictures it now, the way his eyes would crinkle downwards, would he cry? Laurent thinks so, he knows so. Jord had been devoted to Aimeric, or at least tried to be. He wishes he could talk to him, talk to anyone who had loved Aimeric half of what Laurent had loved him. But he blocked Jord’s number ages ago, when the man had left for Delfeur.

The reminder of that day would’ve made him laugh a year ago. He recalls passing Aimeric every one of Jord’s t-shirts and jackets, his ugly gray sweatshirt, the badly tailored dress pants. And Aimeric, vicious, throwing them down their sixth story window at one of Jord’s friends, Orlant. Good riddance from Jord, Aimeric had been murderous. But Laurent remembers feeling quite calm, he had been expecting it. Jord was too different, too mild, almost serene, compared to them both. They had tired him out.

He hadn’t missed that anticipation, the wait for the other shoe to drop, searching for a three-legged cat. The moment when Aimeric would leave him for Jord or Jord would flee away from them. He feels it now, with Damen. He’s been trying his hardest, but his best is rarely enough. It hadn’t been for Aimeric, spiteful and petty and bitter Aimeric. He doubts it'll be for good-hearted Damen. He doubts he will stay long, when there is nothing but the fondness for each other tying them together, besides Damen’s own hunger. Laurent recognizes the way the man looks at him. Half like Laurent is a beast to be tamed and half like he is a broken vase, strewn across the floor. He won’t get what he wants, and Laurent will be alone again. Truly alone now. Without Auguste, or Uncle, or Aimeric, or anyone else.

He knows he should not look up, glance towards the window of what had been Aimeric’s room. So he does that, and his chest aches. Laurent found that the pain was familiar, this grief not much different than the one he’s known well, during all these years. It has made this whole thing easier, or simpler. It’s not easy.

Laurent can see that the walls are bare, painted a different color. A warm cream shade.

**Author's Note:**

> The real estate agent who's just trying to show the house to Laurent: 🧍♂️
> 
> Damen doesn't actually leave Laurent, of course. They happily marry and Jord unknowingly shows up to their wedding as Damen's best man's date. Yes, this is a Jord/Nikandros fic in disguise.
> 
> The d/l part doesn't really fit in this series, which makes me very sad because my brain decided to make up a whole slow build romance for them :(. Damen is a hot exchange student in it. 
> 
> There's still an I Will or Texas chapter missing between Losing Dogs and Townie, which I'll post before February ends and this weird little thing will be done. Finally. 
> 
> Also yeah, Aimeric's mention of America in Losing Dogs and Laurent's reference to Delfeur here was on purpose. Who are the British in capri? Who are the Spanish? Who would colonize my country? I need to know.
> 
> Find me on tumblr as @arsaces-undone (or @rmayuscula).


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